The Hume recycling centre is expected to reopen one week after it was forced to close over safety breaches, with rubbish from towns surrounding Canberra being added to the temporary stockpile at the Mugga Lane tip.
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WorkSafe ACT shut down the materials recycling facility last Thursday night after discovering a number of hazards, including blocked fire exits and missing guard rails and fire extinguishers.
Photos captured on Monday showed an ocean of plastic spilling out the doors, after progressively building up over the last year.
Re.Group chief development officer Garth Lamb admitted the China plastics ban and the Christmas period had placed the facility under increased pressure.
He told The Canberra Times on Tuesday the centre was operating again, and was currently processing material stockpiled on site.
"At this stage we are hoping that we will be able to begin accepting deliveries of new material again by Thursday at the latest. We are certainly doing everything we can to be back online as quickly as possible to ensure that there is minimal impact on the community," Mr Lamb said.
"The material that has been directed to a temporary stockpile will be progressively brought back to the facility and processed as well."
The shut down prompted collections in Gungahlin and Franklin to be delayed by 24 hours last Friday, although a City Services spokeswoman said pick-ups had resumed as normal.
Recycling is being stockpiled at the Mugga Lane tip in Symonston until the centre reopens.
However the centre does not just process recycling from the ACT.
It also accepts recycling from the Queanbeyan-Palerang and Snowy Monaro local government areas.
A Queanbeyan-Palerang Council spokesman said recycling bins in their jurisdiction were still being collected, and waste stockpiled, so residents would not be affected by the closure.
In 2017-18, Queanbeyan-Palerang Council sent about 4500 tonnes of recycling to the centre.
Snowy Monaro Regional Council Group waste manager Patrick Cannon also said its pick-ups weren't affected, with waste being stockpiled at Mugga Lane.
The council area generates approximately 2000 tonnes of recyclables per year.
ACT Work Safety Commissioner Greg Jones said on Monday he hoped the plant would reopen by the end of the week, although he would not lift the prohibition notice until he was satisfied all workers would be safe.
A WorkSafe spokeswoman said on Tuesday the watchdog was working with Re.Group management to remediate the site, including clearing the excess stored material and rectifying the identified safety issues.
"The excess material is being processed on site under strictly controlled conditions with WorkSafe ACT’s supervision," she said.
On Monday, Mr Lamb stressed there had been no injuries at the centre despite the breaches and the company would update its operating and housekeeping procedures to avoid similar issues in future.
Re.Group has a $6.486 million contract to run the centre until 2022.
Last May, when recycling waste was baled higher than the fences, the ACT government would not provide figures on how much rubbish was at the site and how it compared with usual levels.
Instead, the spokesperson said the continual flow of material at the facility, which received about 126,000 tonnes of recycling each year, incentivised plant operator Re.Group to ensure stockpiling was limited. They also denied that China's crackdown on imports of foreign garbage was having a big impact on the facility.
In October, with growing piles of loose material on site, Re.Group conceded the ban was having an impact on the centre, despite only up to two per cent of recycling processed on site being the type of plastic needing to be sent to China.
